Is it possible to repair the network hardware in an iPhone 3G?

Can you use an unlocked iPhone 4S on Virgin Mobile (USA)?

• Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's 3G network, so technically the hardware is capable of using 3G, right?

• Answer:

  Unfortunately, no. Virgin Mobile USA is a CDMA network, similar to Verizon and Sprint.  The unlocked iPhone 4S can only be used on other GSM networks. With unlocked GSM phones, all of the carrier-specific information is in the SIM card, and you can easily remove that and swap it out.  You wouldn't be able to get T-Mobile to provision an AT&T SIM card on their network, but it's not something you would ever need to do. The problem with CDMA is that using a phone on a different network isn't as simple as swapping out the SIM card.  With CDMA, there is no SIM card -- the carrier-specific hardware it built into the phone itself and has to be specifically provisioned and programmed for a different network. Even if the CDMA side were unlocked (which is unclear), using an iPhone 4S on Virgin Mobile USA would require Virgin to add the ESN of the iPhone 4S to their network (something they probably won't do), and you'd also have to visit a Virgin Mobile USA store to get them to program the iPhone 4S for their network (something they probably don't even know how to do).